Robert Klieger

Robert N. Klieger has earned a national reputation as a go-to litigator and trusted advisor to media and entertainment clients.

Mr. Klieger resolves high-stakes disputes for clients in the motion picture, television, and video game industries. Fortune 500 companies and leading executives alike value his exceptional courtroom skills and successful outcomes in a broad array of matters, including copyright, trademark, profit participation, licensing, and shareholder derivative suits. Mr. Klieger was named the “Entertainment Litigation Attorney of the Year” for 2019 by Benchmark Litigation and has repeatedly been recognized in The Hollywood Reporter’s “Power Lawyers” list and Variety’s “Legal Impact Report,” as an “Entertainment Law MVP” by Law360, and as a leading lawyer in Media and Entertainment and General Commercial Litigation by Chambers.

In addition to his litigation engagements, Mr. Klieger regularly advises motion picture studios, broadcast and cable television networks, and video game publishers in connection with a wide variety of intellectual property, privacy and contract issues. He is frequently consulted in connection with the negotiation and drafting of complex motion picture licensing and distribution agreements. 

Updated Nov 2025

• Mr. Klieger secured a complete defense verdict for a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company in a high-profile copyright infringement suit related to the blockbuster film, “Moana.” The plaintiff, Buck Woodall, alleged he had passed certain materials to a family member who worked on a Disney lot, and that those materials were then used to develop “Moana.” After deliberating for less than three hours, the jury found that the creators of “Moana,” which earned nearly $700 million at the global box office, never had access to the plaintiff’s materials. Mr. Klieger also won summary judgment for various other subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company, as well as several other defendants, on claims for alleged copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, and fraud.
  
  
• Mr. Klieger served as lead counsel for media mogul Sumner M. Redstone in one of the most dramatic and high-stakes entertainment industry showdowns in decades. The battle for control of Mr. Redstone’s $40 billion media empire played out in a series of high-profile legal proceedings in the courts of Delaware, Massachusetts and California that were front-page news in mainstream and industry publications, including Fortune, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Variety. Through across-the-board victories in these actions, Mr. Klieger helped restore Mr. Redstone’s control of Viacom and cleared the way for sweeping changes in the management and strategic direction of the company.
  
  
• Mr. Klieger is representing the major record labels, including UMG Recordings, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment, in high-profile, high-stakes copyright litigation against two leading generative AI music companies, Suno and Udio. The lawsuits are the first time the record labels have sued AI companies over sound recording copyrights.
  
  
• Mr. Klieger is representing the successor to the rights of acclaimed author and filmmaker Michael Crichton, who created the television series “ER,” in a high-profile breach of contract suit alleging Warner Bros. Television violated Crichton’s “frozen rights” in connection with its development, production, and distribution of the HBO drama “The Pitt.”
  
  
• Mr. Klieger is representing The Walt Disney Company and more than a dozen subsidiaries in a high-profile trademark infringement action in which plaintiff seeks to recover tens of millions of dollars in damages based on the alleged copying of its “Lots of Hugs” trademark as the name of the villain (Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear) in the billion-dollar grossing film “Toy Story 3” and related merchandising. Mr. Klieger has already secured significant victories in the matter in the Eastern District of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Central District of California.

• Commercial disputes
• Entertainment
• Intellectual Property

• Gaming
• Media

• Stanford Law School (J.D., 1997) Order of the Coif
• Hamilton College (A.B., 1994, Government) summa cum laude, with Distinction; Phi Beta Kappa

• California